posted at 9:01 pm on March 4, 2014 by Erika Johnsen

As you might remember, the Obama administration did just about everything it could think of to make the government shutdown last fall as visible, inconvenient, and outrageous as was humanly possible, including all kinds of Washington-Monument strategizing with our nation’s national parks both large and small. They gated off the open-air World War II memorial and scenic overlooks on the George Washington Parkway; they forced the innkeepers of a privately-run inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway to close up shop during peak leaf-viewing season; they tried to nudge states into shutting down even state-run properties for the duration of the shutdown. So, uhm… let that be a lesson to you? Via the Washington Examiner:

The 16-day government shutdown in October came at a $414 million economic loss to communities that host and surround national parks, the Interior Department said Monday.

Those figures are a preliminary estimate based on 7.88 million fewer park visitors in October compared with the previous three years. …

“[O]ur national parks help propel our nation’s economy, drawing hundreds of millions of visitors every year who are the lifeblood of the hotels, restaurants, outfitters and other local businesses that depend on a vibrant and reliable tourism and outdoor recreation industry supported by our public lands,” Jewell said. …

Jewell has blasted Republicans as well, as the shutdown hurt the National Park Service’s 16,000 employees. She has pushed the House to adequately fund the agency — the spending bill passed in January awarded it $2.6 billion, though the House had originally proposed $2.3 billion.

Yes, I suppose chiding Republicans for “their” shutdown while pushing for still more money to Interior’s budget so they can continue to add lands to the one-third of the surface area of the United States they already control and often grossly mismanage, is one option. But, if the Obama administration really wanted to do the great American landscape a favor and ensure that political antics don’t do so much to harm our economy and our environment, perhaps they should be looking at the bureaucracy-slimming, profitable, and revenue-generatingpublic-private partnership options instead. They’re out there, and they work, whether big-government types want to consider them or not.

Blowback

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I did my GOES interview during the shutdown at Miami’s airport – they were accommodating and not too harsh. A pleasant surprise, especially coming from a person that expects the worst from Federal employees.

WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama will travel to China this month with her daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, for a trip built on the theme of education, her office announced Monday.

The March 19-26 trip will include a visit with her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan, who is a popular folk singer and the second wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Obama refused to negotiate ObamaCare delays with Republicans, period. It was “the law of the land,” period. No changing it now, period.

Of course, once he beat the Republicans on that principled stand, he then himself set about to change that law unilaterally some 20+ times using executive authority that exists nowhere in the Constitution.

In retrospect, why does no one point out that he shut the government down in a refusal to work with House Republicans to do that which he has himself — with brazen political objectives in mind, like helping the Democrats survive this election cycle — done anyway.

I so wish somebody would stick this in the eye of SOMEBODY in the mainstream media.

The Parks Service could have saved a ton of money had they not tried to commit pain on the american public. How much did they spend, putting up barricades around the WWII Memorial to block veterans from seeing it? I can’t tell you, as an American and a veteran, how disgusted I am with Obama and his administration for doing that. I will never forgive him, his administration, or the Democrats, for allowing this to happen, just for the sake of politics. A Pox on all their houses.

Yes, I suppose chiding Republicans for “their” shutdown while pushing for still more money to Interior’s budget so they can continue to add lands to the one-third of the surface area of the United States they already control

Occasionally there are good ecologically reasons for adding this land. And I say this as a person who think the global warming nonsense is nonsense. If the GOP is too strident opposing adding land when there is good ecological reasons, it turns people off. Politically successful strategies do not lead voters to believe that the GOP doesn’t care about the environment, since we need a habitable environment to live.

The 16-day government shutdown in October came at a $414 million economic loss to communities that host and surround national parks, the Interior Department said Monday.

Those figures are a preliminary estimate based on 7.88 million fewer park visitors in October compared with the previous three years. …

That works out to a little over $50/person.

That $50/person didn’t vanish into thin air. They likely spent it elsewhere creating economic activity in the private sector since a whole 17% of the government was shut down. Their economic loss argument is bogus.

I so wish somebody would stick this in the eye of SOMEBODY in the mainstream media.

bobcalco on March 4, 2014 at 9:47 PM

It’s really hard to break through. I try to put it on liberal comment sites, since the media refuses to acknowledge it, but the message just doesn’t get out. The media is ruining our country by presenting a distorted view of reality to the public.

I was going to point out that they made three major mistakes. They were born white, they’re religious, and they came here legally. Had they just fixed these three issues they would have been celebrated celebrities as an Obama event.

the Obama administration did just about everything it could think of to make the government shutdown last fall as visible, inconvenient, and outrageous as was humanly possible

Lets see here. Isn’t that against the law? Is it not the Republicans job to see that this did not happen? Wasn’t it the Republicans job to inform the American people about this egregious violation of trust? Where were the Republicans?

Lets see here. Isn’t that against the law? Is it not the Republicans job to see that this did not happen? Wasn’t it the Republicans job to inform the American people about this egregious violation of trust? Where were the Republicans?

Lets see here. Isn’t that against the law? Is it not the Republicans job to see that this did not happen? Wasn’t it the Republicans job to inform the American people about this egregious violation of trust? Where were the Republicans?

No Chop Charlie on March 4, 2014 at 10:36 PM

Beating up Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.

AesopFan on March 5, 2014 at 12:38 AM

This.

Although let’s not forget that the House passed a bill to keep the parks open but the Senate Dems and the President voted for closure and pain instead.

Although let’s not forget that the House passed a bill to keep the parks open but the Senate Dems and the President voted for closure and pain instead.

Ricard on March 5, 2014 at 8:55 AM

AND King Putt went out of his way to ensure the NPS inflicted as much pain as possible on us peons – despite the fact that they SHOULD have been shutdown – and therefore nobody getting paid to be at any parks.